I’m honored to be one of four featured in this issue of Kerry Magazine which focuses on FEMININE AND FIERCE entrepreneurs! In addition to our short autobiographies, there are also articles designed to inspire, nurture, and motivate as well as a fun advice column! This magazine shoot was an A-M-A-Z-I-N-G experience and a first for me (but not my last!). What’s really cool is that every person that played a part of this shoot is an entrepreneur, from the makeup artist to the photographer. This made the day even more electrifying! The jury is still out on how much fun the makeup session was, but I was impressed with the work of art Andrea Morales (in the bottom left photo next to me and also found on Facebook) created on my face when all was said and done. Kerry, the magazine creator, and DIVA of many things is in the bottom right photo in the gorgeous red dress! I am STILL in awe of the fact that she saw a vision of this magnitude and went for it rather than allowing it to intimidate her! WHO DOES THAT!!! She serves as a role model to entrepreneurs everywhere, proving no goal is too big to achieve if you are willing to do whatever it takes to bring it to life!

Working with professional photographer Kristina Chartier (also on Facebook!) was an incredible experience! I’m probably the most challenging female subject she’d ever had to work with! She patiently coached me on how to pose and look sexy at the same time. (It’s more complicated than it sounds, lol). Her prints are beautiful, making the shoot appear effortless even though she went above and beyond the call of duty behind the scenes while baking in the skin-searing Arizona heat. She never once complained and as we glanced through the photos at the end of our long day, there was not one grainy photo in the hundreds she must have taken. Kristina is a top-notch photographer, fun to work with and who I would highly recommend!

Click on the link below to pre-order your copy at a discount! You won’t be disappointed!

When I tried to visualize the future of my marriage prior to risking the loss of all I’d brought into it as a single mom (before initiating a divorce), the image was grainy. We were unequally yoked, although it wasn’t that way at the onset. We both loved to spend money we didn’t have on things we didn’t need and living from paycheck to paycheck was our normal. Emergencies were always placed on one of my 10 plus credit cards, which usually consisted of items I didn’t want to wait or work overtime for. Instant gratification was an emergency for me. Although we were both over 40 (he was closer to 50), retirement wasn’t a priority. We lived for the day, with no plan for the future.

In our first year of marriage (our second to each other), life provided more education than my high school and college years combined. My son’s (his by marriage) serious medical illness tested the foundation of our vows. It was time to take a crash course on adulthood and put childish things (and ideas) aside. The image that wasn’t grainy was visualizing myself as a Walmart greeter in my 80’s if I didn’t make a change. I could clearly see myself struggling to maintain sanity with numerous jobs for the rest of my life, as I’d already done my entire adulthood. It was all too real! I had to make a change.

Although I was still standing at the end of this painful chapter in my life, punching debt in the face and getting a son through college debt free at the same time, my marriage was not. The good news, however, is that my future is no longer grainy. I’ve found my purpose and am confidently headed in that direction! It’s just a matter of time!

My personality is equivalent to a crock pot at times, slow to warm up and reach the final result, but eventually, I arrive. Others may travel at the speed of sound but in order for me to be successful, I know I can’t approach life willy-nilly. I need to analyze a decision, making a list of pros and cons, and then move forward only after I have a Plan B. Well, my reality is a plan B, C, D, E, F and G. There is nothing wrong with being prepared for every possibility known in the history of man, lol.

One of the things I need to be cautious of is adding my own expectations into the mix. My focus needs to remain on the facts, not how I feel! (feelings aren’t facts!). That isn’t always possible since I am only human. When I make that mistake, I dust myself off and return to the drawing board. I don’t give up, I take the message from the mess and move on. My expectations are hurting me less and less. That’s growth, and the look I’m going for!